Novelty gift bag

ABSTRACT

A gift bag that has a hand puppet attached as the top section of the bag is intended to be used for entertainment purposes at social events or special events, parties. The gift bag is intended to present a bottle (wine, beer, soda, water, etc.). The bag comes available in many different colors and designs depending on the holiday, event, etc. The bag is available in various sizes depending on the size of the bottle being presented.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of containers and more specifically for a novelty gift bag for containing a bottle of wine or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gift bags similar to this invention, to my knowledge, are not currently on the open market. The purpose for the gift bag is to present a bottle (wine, beer, soda, water, etc.) at a social or special event, party, etc. The puppet portion of the bag is removable and is intended to be used for entertainment purposes.

The use of bags is known in the prior art. Bags are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, even with the numerous designs available. Bags, especially for wine bottles have traditionally been conservative in structure, a simple rectangular or cylindrical shape with a string handle.

The gift bag according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an alternative to the alternative staid bags presently available.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The foregoing in known gift bags are solved by a novelty gift bag.

An object of the present invention is a bag for carrying a container comprising an upper section, a lower section, attaching means, and a strap. The upper section and lower section are detachably connected via the attaching means, and the upper section is configured in the shape of a puppet. The upper section comprises a head with a mouth, ears and eye and an upper torso consisting of a shirt. The shirt conceals the attaching means when the upper section and lower section are connected.

A further object of the present invention is that a user may insert a hand into the upper section to manipulate the mouth of the puppet.

Another object of the present invention is that the head of the puppet has a rigid shape. The head of the puppet includes a craft-fuse fusible stabilizer skull.

Still a further object of the present invention is that the attaching means consist of a zipper.

Another object of the present invention is that the lower section is in the shape of a cylinder having a bottom and an opening at the top, The lower section is sized to allow a wine bottle to fit snuggly.

A further object of the present invention is that the strap is connected to the lower section of the bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the invention will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention can be embodied in different forms and thus should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is rear view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1 wherein the zipper and wine bottle are depicted.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the top portion of the present invention manipulated by a user's hand.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which representative embodiment(s) are shown. The present subject matter can, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to describe and enable one of skill in the art. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter pertains. All publications, patent applications, patents and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

A reusable gift bag 100 (FIGS. 1 through 6) may accommodate a container that contains liquid 200. It is envisioned that the container is a standard 750 milliliter (ml) wine bottle. Other sizes of wine bottles, such as a magnum size (1.5 liters) are also envision. Furthermore, it is envisioned that the gift bag 100 may be sized to house other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage containers of varying sizes. The gift bag 100 separates into two (2) sections, a top section 110 and a bottom section 120. The bottom section 120 of the gift bag 100 holds the container 200. The container 200 may also include water bottles, sports bottles, infant bottles, soft drink (soda) bottles, etc. The top section 110 of the gift bag 100 is a functioning puppet. When fully assembled, both parts are connected by a zipper 130. Once the top section 110 and bottom section 120 are connected, the container (e.g., wine bottle) is completely enclosed in the gift bag 100. The top section 110 may be partially removed from the bottom half of the gift bag, or completely and may be used independently as a hand puppet. The puppet may be used by placing a human hand 300 inside the top section 110 to manipulate the mouth and head. (FIG. 9)

FIG. 2 is a front view of the invention. The shape of the top section 110 of the gift bag 100 is that of a hand puppet that may comprise a head 112 and an upper body 116. The top section 110 may comprise a head 112 and an upper body or torso 116. The head 112 may comprise two eyes with eye brows 114, a mouth 115, and two ears 113. The upper body 116 of the top section 110 may comprise two arms 117, two hands 118 and a shirt 111. The material used to construct the top section 110 of the gift bag may include fleece, felt, canvas, burlap, jute, foam, foam rubber, craft-fuse fusible stabilizer, and hot glue. These materials may come in different colors and textures.

As noted above, the bottom section of the bag 120 (FIGS. 1-4, 6 and 7) may hold a vessel or bottle 200 that contains liquid. The bottom section 120 of the gift bag 100 may be constructed from a rectangular piece of material sewn to into a cylindrical shape creating the body 121 of the bottom section. A circular piece of the same or different material than that used for the body 121 may be sewn onto the of the cylinder body 121 to form the end 123 of the bottom section 120. It is contemplated that the bottom section 120 may have a shape other than a cylindrical shape, such as a three-sided body and/or a rectangular/square body shape. The bottom section is preferably sized to snuggly fit a bottle, and more preferably a standard size wine bottle. The material used to construct the bottom bag section of the gift bag may include fleece, felt, leather, vinyl, canvas, burlap, jute, foam rubber. These materials may come in different colors and textures.

A strap 122 is attached to the bottom section 120 of the gift bag 100 along the length of the body 121 allowing for easy carrying of the gift bag (FIG. 4). The strap 122 may be sufficiently long to allow the novelty gift bag 100 to be carried over the shoulder of an individual. The strap material may consist of felt, leather, burlap, jute, canvas, twine, cotton, plastic cords. These materials may come in different colors and textures.

The zipper 130 that attaches the top and bottom sections 110, 120 of the bag is hidden by the material of the puppet's shirt 111 (FIGS. 7 and 8). The zipper 130 that attaches the bottom section 120 to the top section of the bag 110 may be visible when the two (2) sections are not connected. The zipper 130 may be an open end and closed end zippers, whose materials consist of metal chain, molded plastic chain and coil (nylon) chain. Alternative fastening means between the top section 110 and the bottom section 120 are contemplated and may include clasps, buttons, loop and hook fasteners, hooks, and snaps.

The head of the puppet may include craft-fuse fusible stabilizer skull 119 giving the puppet head 112 a rigid shape (FIG. 9). It is also contemplated that the rigid shape of the puppet head may be consist of a foam and/or foam rubber skull 119. The craft-fuse stabilizer skull 119 is secured to the inside of the puppet head 112 by glue (i.e., hot glue), or some other form of adhesive such as adhesive tape (not shown) or connection means such as hook and loop fastener. The craft-fuse stabilizer skull 119 is removable from the inside of the puppet head 112 to allow for longer containers (i.e., bottles) to fit in the gift bag 100 such that the gift bag 100 can be zippered closed.

As depicted in FIG. 9, the upper section 110 of the novelty gift bag 100 can be manipulated as a puppet. A user may insert his hand 300 and arm into the upper section such that the thumb of the user's hand 300 manipulates the lower jaw/part of the puppet's mouth 115 while the four fingers of the user's hand may manipulate the upper jaw/part of the puppet's mouth 115. In this manner, the mouth of the puppet may be manipulated between a close and open positions.

It is envisioned that the material used to construct the novelty gift bag may consist of one or more colors, preferably bright, eye-catching colors synonymous with puppets. It is also envisioned that different parts of the novelty gift bag may consist of different colors and/or material. Preferably, the novelty gift bag is washable.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained therein. It should be understood that various changes, substitutions, additions and alterations can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiment(s) of the device, process, machine, manufacture and composition of matter, means, methods and or steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure herein, processes, machines, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. 

1. A bag for carrying a container comprising: an upper section; a lower section; attaching means; and a strap, wherein the upper section and lower section are detachably connected via the attaching means, and wherein the upper section is configured in the shape of a puppet.
 2. The bag of claim 1, wherein the upper section comprises: a head with a mouth, ears and eyes, an upper torso consisting of a shirt, wherein the shirt conceals the attaching means when the upper section and lower section are connected.
 3. The bag of claim 2, wherein a user may insert a hand into the upper section to manipulate the mouth of the puppet.
 4. The bag of claim 2, wherein the head of the puppet has a rigid shape.
 5. The bag of claim 4, wherein the head of the puppet includes a craft-fuse fusible stabilizer skull.
 6. The bag of claim 1, wherein the attaching means consist of a zipper.
 7. The bag of claim 1, wherein the lower section is in the shape of a cylinder having a bottom and an opening at the top, wherein the lower section is sized to allow a wine bottle to fit.
 8. The bag of claim 1, wherein the strap is connected to the lower section of the bag. 